Understanding Poisons from a Creationist Perspective

Originally published in Journal of Creation 11, no 3 (December 1997): 353-360.

Abstract

The problem of poisons is considered, and it is concluded that
a false dichotomy exists between poisonous and non-poisonous chemicals. Nothing
is toxic in small amounts, and all chemicals are toxic at high levels. Further,
virtually all chemicals, even poisons and toxins, have an important function
in life or human society. Because compounds can be used in a harmful way does
not negate their importance when used appropriately. Fire serves us well by
heating our homes, cooking our food and sterilising medical equipment, yet fire
has caused the loss of an enormous number of lives. Likewise, many major poisons
and toxins are shown to play critically important beneficial roles in society.
It is not the compound that is the problem, but the use to which it is put.
Actually, life could not exist without some compounds that are toxic to some
life-forms. Conversely, our body has a complex means of protecting itself from
toxins which renders virtually all toxins harmless in the amounts to which most
of us are exposed.

Introduction

Toxins are poisons produced by plants, animals and bacteria or
found naturally in the air, water and soil. A poison is any substance that produces
injury to the body by chemical means. Some are corrosives that destroy tissue
directly; others are irritants that inflame mucous membranes. The two terms
‘toxins’ and ‘poisons’ are largely synonymous and are
used here interchangeably. The term poison tends to be the lay term, while toxin
is the scientific term.

Atheists commonly argue that a loving God would not make deadly chemicals which have killed millions of people.

The subject of poisons is burdened with many misconceptions and
is far more complex than assumed just a few years ago. When reading about mercury
or lead poisoning, or murders in which someone used a deadly poison such as
arsenic, some may ask, ‘Why would God create chemicals that cause so
much harm to people?’ Atheists commonly argue that a loving God would
not make deadly chemicals which have killed millions of people. Young concludes
that germs and poisons are

‘perfectly understandable in terms of evolution [but]
make no sense whatever in terms of design by an infinitely intelligent, wise,
and compassionate Creator’.1

Actually, evolution—specifically natural selection—can
‘explain’ either situation. If no poisons existed natural selection
could explain this situation by explaining that poisons ‘selected’
to extinction those animals that had less defence against them. In fact, poisons
that the body cannot easily handle occur relatively rarely in nature. Levy and
Primack note:

‘While there are some 7,000 plants and fungi that produce
or contain toxic substances, only a few are really very dangerous. According
to the Food and Drug Administration’s National Clearing House for Poison
Control Centers, there were only 7,710 cases of exposure to plant poisons recorded
in 1975. Of these victims, 1,990 reported symptoms, 186 were hospitalized and
3 died … most plant poisonings are relatively mild and your overt overreaction
can amplify the symptoms …’ 2

A major reason for toxins in this post-Fall world is to maintain
the ecological balance so necessary for life to exist on the Earth. An example
is penicillin, a toxin to bacteria but harmless to humans, which has saved millions
of lives. Most plants produce toxins to protect themselves from pathogens. Further,
bacteria are necessary for life because they serve as recyclers of organic materials.
Without them, all of the organic nutrients would eventually become locked-up
in non-bioavailable forms and eventually life would become extinct on Earth.
The only concern is to prevent recycling until the animal is dead. This is the
function of the animal’s defence system, which includes the use of toxins.

The terms ‘poison’, ‘toxic’, ‘pesticide’
and ‘herbicide’ all imply that because some chemicals may function
as toxins in some situations, they are therefore always detrimental to humans.
The implied dichotomy between the words ‘toxic’ and ‘non-toxic’
is wholly artificial and impedes understanding the toxicity problem.3
Chemicals are not toxic or poisonous, only amounts are; no chemical is
toxic at low levels, and all chemicals are toxic in large amounts.4
In Stevens’ words, ‘Anything in a large enough dose can prove
toxic’.5

Even water is toxic if certain amounts are ingested and can cause
a coma or death if ingested in high levels during a short time period.6
Such water intoxication is actually an excellent example of the fact that all
substances are toxic in large amounts. Tisdale describes the result of water
toxication:–

‘The volume of water both inside and outside the cells
increases, but the salt does not, and brain cells swell, then shrink … .
Water intoxication can occur accidentally, especially in the medical treatment
of a dehydrated person. But it happens most frequently among schizophrenics
… schizophrenics sometimes have a compulsive need to drink water.’7

And a Food and Drug Administration report stated they receive
many reports of hospitalisations involving

‘water intoxication of young infants. Preliminary reports
indicate that three infants were admitted to the hospital with seizures and
hyponatremia apparently associated with relatively large intakes of free water.
The other two infants were reported to have low blood sodium levels on admission
that were believed to be related to water ingestion.’8

Oxygen is also necessary for life, but, as every nurse knows,
excess amounts are lethal and lower excesses have been a major cause of blindness
in premature babies. Oxygen toxicity develops when the p(O2) rises
above 2.5 atm. (36.8 psi). The result is oxidation of certain enzymes,
which damages the central nervous system and causes coma, and eventually death.
A major problem in abiogenesis is how early life survived an oxygen environment,
and for this reason evolutionists must postulate that a non-oxygen atmosphere
existed at this time, that is, a reducing atmosphere (for the evidence
against the reducing atmosphere hypothesis, see Thaxton et al.9).

Many poisons have critical uses in certain areas of life and society.10
A poison is merely an excess amount of a chemical in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Low amounts of many ‘poisons’ in the right
cells are actually necessary for life, and all vitamins and minerals
are toxic above certain levels. Vitamins A and E are critical for life but highly
toxic if taken in high dosages. The standard vitamin-mineral reference lists
toxicity data for all vitamins, minerals and food supplements.11

Thalidomide: Curse or Miracle Cure?

The drug thalidomide became infamous for causing a large number
of birth defects, primarily if taken at a certain time during pregnancy. Actually,
only one of its enantiomers was a teratogenic agent which caused children to
be born with missing or misshapen limbs.12,13
Although the image of this drug has caused researchers to avoid exploring its
many potential uses, recent studies have found that it is among the most effective
treatments known for leprosy and can also improve enormously the survival rate
of patients who receive bone-marrow transplants.

Thalidomide has also been successfully used to treat other potentially
fatal disorders, including aplastic anaemia and certain kinds of bone
cancers. Aplastic anaemia is a deficiency in the quality or quantity of the
erythrocytes caused by aplasia, a failure of a red blood-cell-producing
organ to develop. Specifically, the bone marrow—where most blood cells
are produced—fails to develop or becomes diseased. Thalidomide also reduces
the graft-versus-host disease problem by moderating the voracity with
which the grafted foreign tissue attempts to reject its new home. Nor is thalidomide
the only toxin that is a miracle drug. In one listing of plant poisons, their
use for medicine is obvious:

‘The development of blatantly poisonous compounds by
plants and fungi is extraordinary in the variety of toxins that they produce.
These compounds are chemically very diverse and include powerful substances
that affect heart muscle and blood pressure, smooth muscle relaxants, cyanides
that block cell respiration, cell poisons that inhibit protein synthesis, hormone-like
compounds, hallucinogenic chemicals, irritants, blistering agents, photosensitizers
and plant allergens. Some act rapidly, causing instant irritation, nausea, vomiting
and diarrhoea, while others are more insidious, producing deadly delayed reactions.
While the development of these potent and sophisticated chemical defenses has
helped plants and fungi avoid being eaten, these poisons have also caused deaths,
pain, itching and a variety of ills to people who have either eaten or come
in contact with them.’14

All of these classes of poisons have become the miracles of twentieth
century medicine, and more are being discovered all the time. Actually, the
wonders of modern medicine are primarily due to the discovery of drugs
which can cure or help persons survive what were once fatal diseases.

Toxins can also be critical for survival for other reasons. One
example is the Pink Pigeon which lives on the island of Mauritius in the Indian
Ocean, the island famous for being the home of the now extinct Dodo. The Pink
Pigeon may be alive today only because of a mechanism called aposematism.
This mechanism uses chemicals as warning signals and for protection. In this
case, humans or animals who dine on the Pink Pigeon become extremely ill. Animals
soon learn this and avoid the bird.

Interestingly, the source of the birds‘ toxic chemicals
is evidently from a fruit—the pigeons commonly dine on this fruit and
accumulate the toxin without ill effects, but it poisons those animals who eat
them.15 Also, animals that defend
themselves by toxins often use conspicuous colouration to easily differentiate
themselves from other animals. This allows their predators to easily identify
them and to avoid them.

Since high energy levels and low weight are critical for birds,
obtaining the toxin from food rather than manufacturing it from scratch eliminates
the need for them to use their own energy to manufacture the toxin themselves.
Rarely do these toxins kill the predator; most often they make predators sick
enough so that they avoid the animal which causes the problem. These mechanisms
are critical to help maintain the balance of nature which is necessary
for life to survive in the post-Fall world.

The Botulinum Toxin

The most poisonous substance known to mankind is botulin, a neurotoxin
produced by the single-celled bacterium Clostridium botulinum.16
The bacterium that causes it is an extremely common soil and water bacteria
spore. The proper conditions cause the spore to develop into the rod-shaped
bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulin is ‘six million times
more toxic than rattle-snake venom’, and a lethal dose for humans
is a mere 1/10,000th of a milligram.17
Botulin poisoning usually results from eating improperly canned or contaminated
food, and produces muscle paralysis.18

The toxin firmly attaches itself to nerve endings and permanently
blocks neurotransmitters—chemicals which allow the nerve impulse to travel
from one nerve to another at the synapse junction. Binding to nerve endings
prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Similar to jamming
a light switch permanently so it cannot be turned on, botulin blocks the nerves,
preventing the brain’s signals from reaching a muscle. If enough nerves
are blocked, the muscle becomes severely weakened or paralysed. Death occurs
because the chest muscles cannot perform their breathing function, producing
suffocation.

Yet, this most dreaded of all toxins is a miracle drug for those
suffering from dystonias and other health problems. Dystonias produce
involuntary muscle spasms which cause the eyelids to blink or clamp shut, the
neck to twist into painful contortions, the fingers to cramp, and vocal cords
to freeze.19 The dystonias in
general result from excess nerve signals to the muscles, causing them
to overreact. This uncontrolled muscle spasm can result from both voluntary
and involuntary production of excessive electrical brain impulses.

Botulin treatment is also highly effective in about 85 per cent
of patients with the cross-eye condition named strabismus. This malady
is usually outgrown by about age six months, but if it persists surgery was
often the only alternative until the development of botulin treatment. Strabismus
is caused by an over-active eye muscle on one side and a weak muscle on the
other. The brain processes light information picked up by the retina by combining
both the left and right signals. If the weak eye is too far out of alignment
with the dominant one, the brain relies solely upon the stronger eye signals.
If this continues for too long, the brain becomes unable to interpret images
from the weaker eye, thus lets it drift—a condition called amblyopia
or lazy eye. As a result, the person can use only one eye and consequently has
little depth of field and experiences major difficulty in judging distances.
Amblyopia also carries considerable social stigma and often results in major
psychological and social adjustment problems.

The surgical treatment involves cutting away a portion of the
hyperactive muscle to weaken it and allow the other eye to line up properly.
The new treatment uses precisely targeted injections of botulin to inactivate
the spastic or hyperactive muscle. This technique in most cases restores normal
control to the patient without the need for invasive surgery. Botulin weakens
the spastic or over-developed eye muscles in the same way that it weakens the
muscle pull of persons suffering from botulism toxin. Unfortunately, the results
are not permanent new nerve endings eventually replace those blocked by
the drug. Nonetheless, it is now the most effective treatment for amblyopia
and is regarded as an established medical procedure.

Botulin therapy is a major breakthrough for blepharospasm,
an uncontrollable eye blinking that sometimes involves other facial, throat
and neck muscles. It is also effective for both chronic writer’s and musician’s
cramps—an especially severe problem for students and persons whose work
involves much writing or the use of fingers such as musicians, especially violinists
and pianists. Botulin also holds enormous promise for millions of Americans
in helping to control spasticity and tics due to cerebral palsy or other causes.20,21,22,23

Success has also been achieved with severe stuttering by injecting
the toxin into the vocal cords to provide potential relief for millions of sufferers.
It is also effective for spasmodic dysphonia, a muscle spasm which affects
the pharynx and results in an extremely strained voice.24
The treatment involves injection of botulin into the thyroarytenoid muscles
that control the vocal cords. Additionally, one of the most useful areas for
botulin is the treatment of spasmodic torticollis, an extremely painful,
debilitating neck spasm which causes the head to thrust about uncontrollably.25

Other uses include treatment of laryngeal dystonia (larynx
muscle spasms which cause speech difficulties), and temporomandibular dystonia
(involuntary movements of the jaw, lower facial, and tongue muscles). It is
even helpful for tremors such as hemifacial spasm, an involuntary twitching
or contraction of the muscles on one side of the face.26
The dystonia family of diseases affects about 390 people per million population.
Before the botulin treatment, few effective methods existed to help the large
number of people afflicted with these problems. One study found the botulin
treatment success rate was 85 per cent in a long term follow-up.27
Many persons assumed that these diseases were psychosomatic, and the discovery
that they are not has both relieved sufferers and helped to reassure physicians
that these patients are treatable.

Botulin is an extremely complex molecule—its molecular weight
is a whopping 80 times that of insulin. Its large number of atoms must be assembled
with the precision of a fine watch. Its commercial and laboratory production,
primarily directed by Ed Schantz, is a complex speciality which still is more
art than science. Schantz has spent almost a half century researching methods
of effectively extracting the pure toxin from the bacteria. His lifetime experience
was required to achieve the skill needed to isolate it effectively from the
bacteria for therapy use. Because it is so toxic, a lethal dose is usually only
about one-ten thousandth of a milligram.28

Ironically, the usefulness of botulin to the bacterium itself
is not yet known. It is an anaerobic organism, once a major problem when home
canning was common and food preservation techniques were less developed than
today. Although one occasionally reads about cases, it is rare today because
commercial canners must by law heat their products up to temperatures and pressures
high enough to kill not just the bacterium, but also the botulism spores. Unfortunately
this high heat-pressure level also destroys many of the food’s vitamins.

Arsenic—A Poison and a Vital Mineral

Probably the most famous of all poisons, arsenic, is actually
a vital mineral for many animal metabolic systems. It is commonly used as an
insecticide or rodenticide, and most arsenic-based pest control products contain
copper acetoarsenate, or calcium or lead arsenate.29
Arsenic compounds cause death by interfering with the body’s energy-producing
processes in the cell mitochondria. The specific mechanism of arsenic poisoning
is usually its inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase, the enzyme that breaks
pyruvates down in the mitochondria so they can be processed for energy production.
Arsenic also decreases glucose storage and inhibits glucose production.30
It is also carcinogenic and teratogenic.

Conversely, as Lederer and Fersterheim31
note, the research data indicate that ‘arsenic is an essential element
for several animal species including humans’. One vital role that
arsenic plays in many animals is as an enzyme component to metabolise protein
and certain amino acids, including arginine and methionine. Human adults need
‘about 12 to 25 micrograms’ per day.32
The most common methods of measuring body arsenic levels are analyses of urine,
hair and fingernail samples.33
Normal persons have an average concentration of 0.005 mg of arsenic per
hundred grams of hair, and excrete between 0.01 and 0.06 mg arsenic per
litre of urine. Arsenic is also a vital element in the electronics industry,
and is needed for preparing tissue for transmission microscopic work.

Other Toxins Now Known to be Essential Minerals

Whitney et al.34
summarise some of the evidence that indicates many other well-known toxins,
including lead, mercury, barium, silver and cadmium, all play key roles in nutrition
and health. Barium, a poison rated ‘5’ on a scale of 1–6 (thus
extremely toxic), which even in low levels can severely irritate the eyes, nose,
throat and skin, is vital for proper growth and may protect the body from ulcers.
Slightly greater levels of it cause cardiac irregularities, convulsions, and
death from cardiac and respiratory failure.35

Other highly toxic vital minerals include iodine (also a toxicity
rating of 5) which is required for thyroid hormone synthesis. Copper is needed
for normal blood-cell formation and has a major role in the production of several
enzymes involved in respiration, central nervous system functioning and connective-tissue
formation.36 Vanadium is required
for bone development and normal reproduction; cobalt is an essential part of
vitamin B12; silicon is involved in bone calcification; and nickel is critical
for certain enzymes to work and evidently also for iron metabolism.37

The Miracle Element Selenium

Many other trace minerals necessary for proper health are also
toxic in relatively low amounts.38
Selenium is extremely poisonous (toxic at 0.2 mg/m3) and, if
inhaled in sufficient amounts, causes nervous system disorders, tooth damage
and Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is also an essential element needed as a
co-factor for the enzymes that function as antioxidants. These compounds reduce
the amount of polyunsaturated acid oxidation, now considered by many researchers
to be a major cause of arteriosclerosis.39
Selenium’s role as an antioxidant is also complementary to that of vitamin
E, and neither can replace the other. The recommended intake for adults is 0.05
to 0.2 mg daily.40

Selenium also may have a protective effect against certain cancers,
although its most important biological function is probably part of the enzyme
glutathione peroxidase. This compound helps to minimise a cellular structure
damage problem called peroxidation which, regardless of whether it occurs
naturally or is chemically induced, can lead to cancer. The glutathione peroxidase
enzyme destroys oxidative compounds that would otherwise oxidise chemicals in
the cell, consequently destroying some organelles and eventually the cell. Selenium
is also probably extremely important in bolstering the body’s immune system,
and its ability to reduce the incidence of cancer may be so dramatic that some
researchers recommend daily supplements for the general population.

One past outbreak of heart disease involving hundreds of thousands
of children and young women in large areas of western China in the 1970s was
due partly to selenium deficiency. Correction of this diet deficiency has now
largely eliminated the problem called Keshan disease.41
The cause of the deficiency was the low levels of selenium in the soil in those
areas, a situation that also correlates with certain kinds of cancer. Most Westerners
are largely protected from severe selenium deficiencies because their food is
generally obtained from a wide variety of areas around the country.42
Also, meat and animal products which are good selenium sources are a major part
of the Western diet.

Chromium—Another Miracle Metal

Chromium causes cancer, corrodes skin and nasal membranes, and
can damage the kidneys and the body’s immune response system (toxic at
0.1 mg/m3 or less). Conversely, it has now been proven to be
an essential trace element.43
Studies of patients for whom prolonged intravenous feeding was the sole source
of nutrition have vividly demonstrated the importance of chromium for normal
glucose metabolism. It interacts with insulin to aid the entry of glucose into
the cell at the cell membrane entry port, and consequently it controls the energy
supply for cell use. When chromium is lacking, insulin effectiveness is also
impaired.

Because chromium tissue concentration typically declines with
advancing age, and its deficiency may be a major cause of the development of
adult-onset diabetes, many nutritionists recommend regular use of chromium supplements.
Studies of diets which include chromium supplements have found that the element
can help control blood pressure, increase stamina and build muscle.44

Chromium also plays a critical role in carbohydrate and lipid
(fat) metabolism. Chromium supplements can help to correct glucose imbalances
by lowering high blood glucose concentration in diabetics, raising low blood
glucose concentrations as found in hypoglycaemia patients. Because chromium
deficiency can also raise serum cholesterol and LDL concentration and lower
HDL concentration, chromium supplements can help to prevent coronary artery
disease. Unfortunately, the more refined the food, typically the less
chromium it contains. Some researchers estimate that a high proportion of the
population does not ingest enough dietary chromium for this reason. Fisher concludes
that up to 90 % of Westerners do not take in enough of this vital nutrient.45

Chromium is unusually high in vegetable oils, brewer’s yeast,
whole grains, nuts, egg yolks, meats, and certain kinds of cheeses but is often
poorly absorbed; thus supplements are often recommended. Chromium absorption
levels depend upon the ion ingested, and the Cr3+ ion seems to be
the form best absorbed and is most effective in living systems. The dietary
supplement that is evidently most bioavailable is chromium picolinate.
The body also has a natural protective mechanism to prevent over absorption
by causing absorption to increase with low dietary intake and
decrease with high dietary intake.

Vitamins—Too Much of a Good Thing?

Almost every school child knows that vitamins are necessary for
good health. Unfortunately though, many people believe that because small amounts
of all vitamins are essential, larger amounts are better and megadoses are better
yet. This belief may be one reason vitamin overdose is now a major problem.
Called hypervitaminosis, the most common symptoms include nausea, diarrhoea,
rashes, fatigue, and eventually death. Especially of concern are the fat soluble
vitamins (A, D, E and K), and the most common overdose problem is vitamin A.46
Although necessary in moderate amounts for the maintenance of skin, hair and
mucous membranes, as well as vision and bone and tooth growth, high vitamin
A intake can cause serious health problems and occasionally death. Many health
experts recommend for this reason that supplementary vitamins should be taken
only under the advice of a physician.

The Natural Versus Synthetic Debate

Much of the concern over toxicity relates to the labels synthetic
versus natural, a chemical division that is artificial and often meaningless.
The common assumption that compounds made by nature are good and those made
by humans are bad (or at least have a far greater chance of being damaging)
is erroneous. Although legal definitions have been attempted, most synthetic
chemicals are nothing more than modified, and sometimes not greatly so,
natural chemicals. Many are identical to the natural, but are able to be produced
more simply and cheaply outside of a plant or animal. Each chemical also has
to be evaluated separately for toxicity concerns regardless of its source.
Because this is true for all of the ten million chemical substances listed in
the 1997 Chemical Abstracts, scientists have much work ahead of them.

Many persons tend to think of natural compounds as non-poisonous
and human-made ones as more likely to be harmful. This generalisation is not
valid; all plants, including those used by us for food, produce their own specific
natural compounds which were designed to be toxic as a means of protection against
pests, including insects, fungi, and animals.47
Eating a balanced diet consisting of small amounts of a wide variety of foods
is generally safe. Since all foods contain toxins, the only concern should be
the level to which we are exposed of each type of compound and
whether our liver can adequately detoxify the level of the compound ingested.
This organ is marvellously efficient at rendering excess amounts of potentially
lethal compounds harmless. Our body, if healthy and not overburdened, is actually
extremely effective in rendering normally-encountered levels of most toxins
inert.

We should also be very cautious, but not paranoid, about utilising
chemicals which have not yet been adequately tested. Many chemicals exist which
we know are extremely toxic to humans, and yet many people do not seem very
concerned about them.48 An example
is the finding that hundreds of the over 4,000 chemicals commonly found in cigarette
smoke are extremely toxic to humans. One, radioactive polonium-210 (half-life
= 138.4 days), is one of the most toxic substances known to mankind, and yet
many people tend to worry more about Aspartame® which has a toxicity of
something like a millionth of polonium-210.49
This information could also mean saving lives if applied to reducing toxins
in one’s environment.

How Our Body Protects Us Against Excess Toxins

The average person today probably is exposed to 360 millirems
of radiation annually from cosmic and terrestrial sources alone. The major cosmic
source is from galactic and extragalactic locations, and the primarily terrestrial
source is from radon gas and smoking.50
Researchers have discerned that a phenomenon called hormesis exists to
protect us against toxins and poisons. Hormesis primarily involves the toxin
stimulating the development of the body’s defences against that toxin,
producing antitoxins. Thus, small amounts of many toxins including radiation
may be a necessary requirement to keep the body’s immune and defence
systems healthy. Arsenic, copper and selenium all play an important role in
metabolism—and they also may trigger the body’s defences against
excess amounts.

One research study which supported this conclusion was completed
by Bernard Cohen of the University of Pittsburgh. He found that up to several
hundred millirems of radiation produced no discernible negative effect on health.
Beyond this though, he found a slight but significant decrease in radiation-induced
carcinomas. These data were unexpected because it has been assumed, in harmony
with Nuclear Regulatory Commission policy, that a zero level radiation threshold
exists and that the damage rises linearly until it reaches the lethal dose level.

Cohen found that the downward trend does reverse itself, but only
after it rises above a base line of about 5 rems a year, about 50
times greater than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual recommended
limit. Evidently, exposure does not cause problems until about 100 rems a year
is reached. This finding was supported by the research on Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s
80,000 survivors, who were divided into control and radiation-exposed groups.
The control group, about half of the subjects, experienced normal background
radiation. The experimental group experienced significantly higher levels. About
120 incidences of carcinoma were found in the control group, a discovery
which ran 180 degrees counter to the then current conventional wisdom.51

Studies of people living in high elevations who are exposed to
more cosmic sources of radiation and those who live in high radon areas, as
well as people who have cardiac pacemakers which use plutonium power, also confirmed
that radiation exposures up to a certain level seemed to be beneficial.
A possible conclusion is that these medium levels of toxins stimulate the body’s
defence system, significantly benefiting the person.

Detoxifying Compounds

An estimated 10 million organic compounds are known to exist naturally
or have been created by the labs of the world’s scientists. The body does
not have enough genes to respond in a unique way to detoxify each one of these
10 million or more compounds that exist. The body deals with this problem in
a special way described below.

Compounds that are not made by the body, including pesticides,
environmental pollutants, carcinogens and drugs, as well as harmless compounds,
are all called xenobiotics. The term means a chemical compound that is
foreign to the body (xeno is Greek for stranger). Xenobiotics typically
are dealt with by a two-pronged attack. The first step is to cause a chemical
reaction which makes them more hydrophilic and water soluble to prevent their
accumulation in fatty tissues. The second step involves enzymes that modify
the xenobiotic structure to cause it to be even more water soluble, and consequently
more likely to be excreted.52

To make xenobiotics more hydrophilic, a hydrogen atom is replaced
by hydroxylation reaction which is caused by a monooxygenase enzyme complex,
specifically cytochrome P-450. Cytochrome P-450 is a member of the large
cytochrome family, which is famous in the electron transport system for tweaking
all the energy possible out of food at the end of the Krebs cycle. The ‘P-450’
designation refers to its light-absorption level, a measure used to classify
compounds. This compound absorbs light most strongly at the 450 nanometre wavelength.

The second phase of xenobiotic metabolism involves bonding through
either an oxygen, nitrogen, or a sulphur atom to a more highly polar group,
often the glucose derivative glucuronic acid or the amino acid derivative
glutathione.

About half of all drugs are metabolised by cytochrome P-450, primarily
in the liver as the drugs pass through on their way into general circulation.
Consequently, drugs need to be taken in a steady dose. In this way the physician
can control the amount in the body. Lowering doses rapidly lowers the blood
level of the drug; conversely, increasing doses rapidly increases the blood
level. If the drugs were not rapidly broken down, the body could only very slowly
reduce the blood level of a drug, and one would have far less control of a drug’s
level at any one time. This is critical: drugs which are harmful are rapidly
broken down by the body if taken in an overdose, reducing the likelihood of
long-term damage. Phenobarbital, for example, a drug commonly taken to commit
suicide, is rapidly hydroxylated by cytochrome P-450; then it is dissolved in
the blood and excreted. For this reason large amounts must be ingested in order
to be lethal.

Although the cytochrome P-450 molecule effectively detoxifies
many poisons, it can convert some compounds into carcinogens. These converted
compounds may damage DNA, causing cancer or other problems. The best example
is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced by incomplete burning
and found in most smoke, especially cigarette smoke (and in some meteorites).
(Complete burning, that is, with enough oxygen, does not produce polycyclic
hydrocarbons.) These compounds are broken down in the body into compounds which
cause serious problems. Although exposure to combustion by-products as smoke
is not rare, it generally does not cause a problem because the cough reflex
is triggered if the environmental smoke level is excessive. Unfortunately, this
cough effect can in some cases be overcome, such as in the case of certain kinds
of so-called mild tobacco smoke.

The origin of this ‘mild tobacco smoke strain’ that
does not as effectively trigger the cough reflex, thus bypassing this important
defence mechanism, was a mutation. Therefore, when a person is smoking tobacco,
this important protection is often not triggered. Consequently, in the United
States alone over half a million people die annually from tobacco smoke, and
it is estimated that of those alive today, smoking will take almost a billion
lives throughout the world.

Cytochrome P-450 is an inducible biomolecule, meaning that
if more is needed, more is made by the body. Not unexpectedly, smokers have
more cytochrome P-450 than non-smokers.53
The body’s response to carcinogens varies with genetic makeup, previous
exposure, and total exposure. Even if one has a genetic weakness which allows
dangerous compounds to have a greater deleterious effect, avoiding exposure
will reduce this problem. Actually, the people most at risk for poisoning today
in the Western world are smokers, certain industrial workers and the following
persons:

‘Ever-increasing numbers of people are gathering wild
plants in search of new gastronomic natural treats, bringing into jeopardy another
segment of the population. Some of these wild harvests involve misidentified
plants and can cause a most unhappy or even deadly experience. The number of
people practicing herbal medicine (a tradition that goes back to before the
time of Christ) is also on the rise. People seeking natural products (roots,
leaves, and bark) to make their concoctions and potions can err and experience
mild to severe poisoning. Another group … [using] wild plants,
sometimes at considerable risk to themselves, are those people looking for a
natural high from smoking or eating plants which contain hallucinogens, although
the greatest risk here comes when such a person stumbles across a hidden marijuana
plot guarded by a trigger-happy protector of his crop. There have been several
deaths due to such accidental encounters.’54

In a perfect world these mechanisms would be fully adequate to
prevent toxins from causing problems to humans. In the fallen world, mutations
in plants and animals plus destructive behaviour on the part of humans offsets
this balance, causing the problems so apparent in the world around us. Nonetheless,
in spite of the fact that toxins are all around us, it is rare today for a human
being to die from these causes, even though the level of toxins has dramatically
increased recently due to the industrial revolution, and earlier ignorance in
using such items as lead drinking cups. We are now aware of many of these dangers,
and in the wealthier societies at least we have largely been able to reduce
these problems by pollution control. No doubt too the fallen state since Adam
has changed the world in other ways. The focus here, though, is on humans as
noted in the question in the beginning of the paper.

Some Conclusions

The problems with poisons are only due to excessive amounts and
how the compounds are used. Compounds which are highly toxic in some situations
can be life-saving in others. The toxicity problem is solely a matter of degree,
that is, all compounds are toxic in high enough levels, and no compound is toxic
in low enough levels. The toxicity concern is best described as one of fit:
in one situation a compound is functional, in another the same level is dysfunctional.
The fact that low levels of some compounds are dysfunctional in certain situations
does not support the common conclusion that some compounds are innately not
dangerous and others are dangerous or toxic. The focus should be on the proper
use of a compound in a given situation. A review of selected common
poisons and toxins demonstrates that they serve very specific roles in health
even though research on many of these elements such as arsenic and botulism
toxins, has only just begun. The reason God created toxins is because they are
necessary for life, especially in a post-Fall world. All compounds and elements
can be either beneficial, neutral or harmful, depending upon the situation and
the amount.